I almost finished first cycle of Reload a month ago, although I have to admit that I didn't work through the program to the letter. I modified it a little because of shorter than 8 weeks time frame available and because I didn't like some of the choices for the assistance work. Fortunately the main part of the program, Big 4 programming, was left untouched.
My recent history
I am working with kettlebells for 3 years and with barbell for about 2. I consider myself as intermediate lifter.
On November 2018 I decided to focus on fat loss through the low carb diet and fasting. Basically last 5 months I tried to stay under 50g of carbs 6 days a week, eating in 18/6 IF scheme. On Saturdays I am doing carb loading (ok, cheat day, who I want to fool!) followed by 40h+ fast from Sunday evening to Tuesday noon. Lost about 13kg of bodyweight and 11cm of waist.
Unfortunately I lost some strength in the process with my personal best in 2018 being:
- 100kg Press,
- 160kg Bench,
- 180kg Back Squat and
- 190kg Deadlift (semi sumo, conventional 180kg),
all at bodyweight ~110kg.
After getting back to two-digit bodyweight I decided to loosen up my diet and try to maintenance at about 97-99kg while rebuild my strength levels.
Program-wise I was doing GZCL and Brian Alsruhe Linear Program during the reduction. Basically I did a lot of work at lower intensities, higher volume and quite high density (gigasets, 90s rests). Felt really beaten up. I also did two weeks of Easy Strength work just before Reload program.
Program variant
I chose the Conventional Deadlift/Bench/High Bar Back Squat/Press variant 4 days a week, keeping the light days and assistance work (although both little modified)
Program modifications
- as I had only 7 weeks available I decided to cut first week from the program
- apparently I am really bad in counting days, as I gave myself only 4 days to test maxes. Decided to do two test days and test DL with Bench and Squat with Press. Not perfect, I know.
- two times I did only main and light sets without assistance work.
- I like to target my core on every training, so I supersetted light sets with:
- Windshield Wipers on light Bench days,
- HLR on light Squats days,
- Landmine Rotations on light Press days, and
- AB Wheel/Rings Rollouts on DL days.
- I prefer pulls on press days as antagonistic exercises and I also like unilateral leg exercises so I came up with these supersets as Assistance work:
- Wide Grip Romanian DL and Farmer Walks on DL days,
- Incline Bench and Pendlay Rows on Bench days,
- Front Squats and Reverse Lunges on Squat days, and
- Z Presses and Pull ups on Press days.
- after few weeks of the program I made some light days harder making DL into Paused DL to improve my poor Conventional DL Form. Bench was done with little longer pause than usual.
- on last Press day before testing I did 3x3 on DL light work because I planned to test DL next day.
Additional stuff
- On the beginning I added a 1-2 sessions of A+A weekly, but on the last weeks I decided to let them go to give myself more recovery
- I was doing GTG calisthenic stuff almost each day, doing sets of 5 pull ups along with wall HeSPU, OAPU and Shrimp Squats rotated on days where the lower and upper was not main dish (e.x wall HeSPU on Reload Squat days).
- During warmup I was mixing OS Resets, box jumps/ball throws from 5/3/1 and barbell complex (Brian's) with additional mobility if needed
- Did a few min of stationary cycling before and after training on DL/SQ days. My knees like it.
1RM and 5x5@5
I did the math as required by the program and check my 1RMs, they looked like this:
- 90kg Press
- 140kg Bench
- 152,5kg Back Squat
- 172,5kg Conventional DL
All at bodyweight ~98kg
For the weights at 5x5@5 I selected
- 80kg Press - too heavy, got really hard time doing it, last set RPE 10
- 120kg Bench - felt little to easy, RPE 8,5
- 135kg Squat - good choice, RPE 9
- 142,5kg DL - hard to tell, can't rate DLs well, but it could be higher
Results
- The first thing I noticed was that I was significantly hungrier than usual. I think that this is because more volume at higher intensities than usual.
- I definitely gained some muscle cause I lost about 2cm in waist and gain ~1kg of bw. Lean gains could be better if I would eat for mass. Fat loss is still important for me so not big expectations on muscle mass.
- Tested for 1RM and got:
- DL: 200kg (+27,5kg)
- Bench: 150kg (+10kg)
- Squat: not tested cause I tweaked my back on warmup on last testing day
- Press: 95kg (+5kg) - but could be heavier if I not tweaked my back on testing day
All at bodyweight ~98kg
What I liked
- all of the math is well explained in the book, had no problems with calculations at all
- customized steps between weeks is a new, fresh approach and it worked well
- I felt that light work before main days primed me well for heavier work sets
- clean and elegant structure
What I did not liked
- too little core work, I fixed it by doing them everytime
- too little pulls, need to focus on them more
- assistance work volume was sometimes so small that it felt insignificant, I understand that it's just assistance, but doing all the setup just for 2-3 sets with 4 reps in the tank felt like a waste of time
Other things:
- Doing 5x5 with the same weight feels little boring. But program is for becoming stronger, not more entertained, so it's of course ok.
- It can took quite long time if done by the book. I like to leave the gym in less than an hour, that's why I usually practice 4-5 times a week and do stuff in super- and gigasets. And maybe that's why I am weakling, maybe indeed strength like the long rests and focusing on main exercises.
My opinion
I really liked the program. Its simple but not easy if set well. A lot of customization and focusing on strength. I really recommend it to any lifter who wants to spend some quality time with the big lifts and his main focus is strength. With proper diet it can bring some gainz as well.
After finishing this cycle I went to one month vacations where I focused on calisthenics and easy strength. Now I am back, will do 2-3 weeks of ES and will try to do another cycle or two of Reload.